Darcy was standing outside tapping her foot when Clint emerged from the house ten minutes later. It wasn't an impatient tapping though; it was more nervous than impatient. Like she felt the need to get going already. Who knew, maybe she did. The fact that all of the Avengers and their associates, most of whom were virtual strangers, were packed into the house she'd shared with her recently deceased adoptive father might have something to do with it. They'd invaded what had to be a sacred space for her; that she was anxious to get them all out made a lot of sense.
"Little impatient there, iPod girl?" asked Tony as he swaggered out behind Clint, breaking any momentary reprieve their host had from the group.
Darcy barely glanced at Tony as she flipped him off. "Maybe I'm just impatient waiting for your slow ass."
"Blame grandpa for that one," remarked Tony, scoffing slightly as he jabbed his thumb back at the kitchen door. "He's making sure everyone has proper shoes."
"No, he's not," stated Darcy, rolling her eyes as she finally looked over at Tony completely. "He's looking at a map of the area so he knows where we're going." At Tony's raised eyebrow, she pointed to the front of the house. "He went out front five minutes ago to check the cross streets and orient himself."
Tony gave Darcy a weird look, but was cut short of commenting by Steve's sudden appearance. Spotting the group, he immediately made a bee-line towards them, a map tucked under his arm.
"Figure out where we are?" asked Darcy with a smirk, nodding at the map under Steve's arm.
"It looks like the park is a few miles away," stated Steve, blushing slightly. "Do you have a specific path you take there?"
"Yeah, the foot bath," replied Darcy with a roll of her eyes. "I know it's not on the map, but I promise it's right where I said it is."
Clint felt his lips twitch upwards. Darcy was pretty amusing to watch when she got annoyed. Though even he had to admit, Steve needed to relax. He trusted Darcy not to get them horribly lost at least.
Jane and Pepper stepped out of the house before Steve could respond, followed almost immediately by Thor and Natasha. At this point, the only one they needed was Btruce. Speaking of, where was the scientist?
Pulling a set of keys from her pocket, Darcy headed back towards the house, ducking inside without so much as a word to the others. It was almost unnerving for Clint to see her so quiet. Based on the worried looks Pepper and Jane exchanged, the quiet, reserved thing was completely abnormal for the intern.
Once Darcy was back inside, Jane turned a worried gaze to Pepper. "Do you think she's upset with us or about Coulson?"
"Probably Coulson," stated Tony with a shrug. "It sucks to come home to an empty house without warning." The knowing tone in Tony's voice was weird to hear, completely out of character for the engineer. "Burying the people you love isn't the hard part- it's coming home to their ghosts." Tucking his hands in his pocket, a faraway look sort of crossed Tony's face. "Hell, us being here is probably helping."
The look of realization that crossed Pepper's face was like a smack to the head for Clint. How he'd forgotten the genius had once gone through the same thing as Darcy, Clint wasn't sure, but it meant the genius was probably right. After all, he was the one with the personal experience to back up his statement. He'd even been about the same age a Darcy.
"Do you really think so?" asked Jane nervously, glancing back towards where Darcy had gone. "I feel like we're intruding."
"Trust me, it's better," assured Tony, his lips thinning. "Doing this alone is a lot worse."
Jane and Pepper shared a glance before Pepper opened her mouth to say something. She was cut off by Bruce exiting the house though, followed by a beeping and Darcy as she hopped out the door and locked it behind her.
She paused slightly as she rejoined the group, raising an eyebrow at Clint. "What's up, Robinhood? You look like you swallowed a lemon."
"Nothing," stated Clint, though he couldn't help the way he shifted uneasily under her narrowed gaze. It seriously reminded him of the look Coulson would give him when he knew something was up and wanted to know what it was.
However, instead of continuing to stare him down like Coulson would have, Darcy turned to Jane with an equally accusatory gaze. "You guys were talking about me."
"W-what?" sputtered Jane, quickly glancing at the others hopefully. "No, we weren't…"
"Yeah, you definitely were," insisted Darcy dismissively as she turned towards the gate leading to the front garden and street. "Anyone want to share?"
"Pep and Jane thought we were intruding," spoke up Tony, ignoring the glares both women threw at him as he passed to fall into step with her. "I tried to tell them they were wrong, but they wouldn't listen."
Darcy snorted, shaking her head as she pushed through the gate, motioning for the others to follow. "Please, no one would be here if it bothered me." She shoved her hands harshly in her pockets then, kicking an errant rock as she paused to hold the gate open. "Hell, dad once said 'It's easier to wrestle with grief when you know there's another around to catch you'." She spun back towards the group then, giving them a resigned look. "I know what I'm doing here and no one is bothering me."
Clint winced at the look in her eyes, the haunted edge reminding him- all of them- this wasn't the first loss she'd faced. There was something more there, too. A pointed sort of look that seemed to replace the haunted one as she met Clint's eyes, her gaze knowing. It was like she knew he'd been in her exact place once, years ago. The look made him shiver. How did she always seem to just look through him?
Natasha's hand landed on his shoulder heavily, snapping him back to the moment at hand. Darcy was already out of sight when he blinked, as was most of the group. Only Bruce and Natasha had lingered.
"Come on Clint," encouraged Natasha, guiding him forward with the hand on his shoulder. "We need to catch up with the others."
"Right," muttered Clint, picking up his pace a little and turning into the street. He could see the others a little further ahead, following after Darcy as she strolled comfortably down the street. There was a touch of tension in her steps though, set in her shoulders and the way her hand shifted in a discrete scanning motion. She was nervous about being spotted. And why wouldn't she be? This was her home and she was running around with the entire Avengers team following her.
He'd be nervous, too. They weren't exactly subtle.
"So where's this park anyway?" asked Tony loudly from the front of the group. Loudly enough that Darcy cringed at least.
"Up near the center of town," replied Darcy, her voice a little on edge. "It's a thirty-minute walk."
"A full thirty minutes?" spoke up Natasha as she picked up her pace to catch up with the group. "I'm not sure Tony can handle that. I've never seen him walk for thirty full minutes at once."
"He did once," picked up Pepper, a faint smirk tilting up his lips. "He was trying to impress a marathon runner. Happy had to pick him up."
Natasha broke into laughter at that and even Steve snorted a little in amusement. It helped lighten the heavy mood that had draped the group from the earlier discussion, even though it left Tony pouting.
"Hey, I made it 40 minutes, thank you," objected Tony, though the pout was exaggerated and clearly meant as a joke.
"Maybe 40 minutes before you called Happy," corrected Pepper, her hand slipping into his with a smile.
Clint watched the way Tony squeezed her hand slightly, using the contact to draw her just a little closer. It was sweet, but surprisingly subtle for the playboy. Then again, when he thought about it, his displays of affection with Pepper tended to be less publically over the top. He knew privately they were still pretty extreme; he recalled when Tony sent the photo of the giant stuffed bunny around to the group asking if they thought Pepper would like it.
"I'm so glad those two aren't into major PDA," remarked Darcy suddenly from beside him. He nearly jumped out of his skin, which was embarrassing because he should have been a lot more observant than that. When had she dropped back to walk with him anyway? "Can you imagine if they were? Tony would go over the top and we'd all end up sick of them."
"We'd all be going crazy if they were," agreed Clint with a smirk, the image of Tony driving Pepper crazy by showering her with unnecessary affection popping into his head. The CEO would probably throw Tony out a window if the man ever acted that way.
"Just a bit," chuckled Darcy, folding her arms behind her head and rolling her shoulders slightly. "By the way, I wanted to thank you for distracting me last night. I probably wouldn't have slept again if you hadn't."
"It wasn't a problem," assured Clint, his cheeks reddening a little. "I'm just glad it helped."
"Distractions are about the only way I fall back asleep after something like that," admitted Darcy, her head tilting back so she could look up at the sky. "Well, that or haunt forum sites. There's a great group, totally progressive, that's pretty awesome."
"Progressive as in forward thinking or radical?" asked Clint, mind immediately shifting to suspicious. He'd been with SHIELD for too long; he knew there were some pretty radical groups online.
Darcy made an aborted humming noise and lifting one of her hands to wobble it back and forth. "Kinda? They aren't hurting anyone, they just want to see more transparency and fewer secrets. After New York, I get it." The hand rose between them, palm turned towards him in a 'stop' motion. "And before you say anything, no, they don't know my dad worked for one of those agencies or that I'm in any way in support of SHIELD. I keep that completely secret."
"I wouldn't expect anything less of you," assured Clint, holding both hands up in a reassuring motion. "I'm just paranoid."
Scoffing slightly, Darcy shoved her hands in her pockets and offered him a smirk. "Dad asked me the same thing when he found out about the message boards. He looked at everything and cleared it, though."
"Just because he cleared it, doesn't mean he wasn't watching them," pointed out Clint, lips compressing. He needed to check in with Fury, see what he knew about this group.
As if reading his mind, Darcy rolled her eyes and picked up her pace. "Put your paranoia on the backburner and relax a little. I'll even let you look at the forums when we get back to the house, if it'll make you feel better."
"It would," admitted Clint sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head a little. "You sure you're okay with that?"
"Not like we do anything illegal," stated Darcy with a shrug, pausing a little ahead of him and slowly holding her hand out to him. "Well, unless you consider encouraging unity in problem solving and encouraging the free exchange of information illegal."
"None of that is illegal as long as the information they're discussing was obtained legally," replied Clint, though he somehow doubted that was the case. He might trust Darcy now, but she was young enough that she could still get pulled into some shifty business if she weren't careful. He'd definitely need to look into these people; he was responsible for killing Coulson, watching out for his daughter was the least he could do.
Glancing at her extended hand, he slowly reached out and took it, watching a wince cross her face before she tightened her fingers around his and pulled him towards the front of the group. "C'mon, Steve doesn't really know where he's going and I'd rather not get lost on the way to the park. Amityville isn't that big, but you can still get turned around."
Nodding, Clint allowed himself to be pulled to the front of the group with Darcy and tried to ignore the way his hand warmed beneath hers. He didn't want to consider why holding her smaller fingers in his larger ones might feel as right as it did. Nope, he definitely wasn't going there.
"Well, this park is very..." stated Natasha with clear hesitancy. Clint knew she had to be trying very hard not to say something derogative if she was being this hesitant, but he could understand why. Amityville was very small town (as Darcy had pointed out), the complete opposite of New York. Unless you'd lived in small-town America before (like he had), it could be hard to wrap your mind around some of the habits people in tiny places developed.
"Boring?" suggested Tony as he glanced around the area where children were running. He paused for a moment, tilting his head as something caught his eye out on the grass. "What's with the outside dojo?"
Darcy actually frowned a little, opening her mouth to respond only for a shout to stop her.
"Darcy!" The shout was followed by a guy running up the grass, waving as he nearly skidded to a halt before her. He had dark skin and hair along with a huge grin that set his whole face alight. "You're back!"
"Antoine!" exclaimed Darcy in surprise, her eyes going wide. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to some military academy."
"Yeah, I am," confirmed Antoine with a grin. "But we do get breaks."
"So you're on a break?" asked Darcy, tilting her head curiously at the guy, her body slowly relaxing.
"Yep, just visiting home," confirmed Antoine, his eyes finally moving to the group behind her. His jaw dropped almost immediately as his eyes swept over Clint. "Shit, you're Agent Barton."
Clint blinked in surprise, feeling somewhat sheepish and more than a little surprised he'd even been recognized. Then the name registered. Agent Barton. It wasn't bow-guy or Hawkeye or even hawk-guy with this kid, it was Agent Barton. No one called him Agent Barton outside of SHIELD.
Beside him, Darcy frowned. "How'd you know that?
Antoine still looked shell shocked. "He's legendary at the academy. Everyone knows about Agent Barton."
"You're at the SHIELD academy," surmised Natasha, stepping forward a little as she spoke up. Her eyes dragged over the young man carefully, probably looking for markers that would confirm her statement.
"And you're Agent Romanoff," stated Antoine, his jaw practically hitting the ground. "Geez Darcy, how do you know these guys?"
"I didn't until recently," replied Darcy sadly, shrugging a bit. "They worked with my dad. I only met them maybe a month ago."
Antoine's brows furrowed further. "Is your dad with SHIELD?"
"Was," corrected Darcy quietly, her arms crossing protectively across her chest. "He died during New York."
"Shit," muttered Antoine, opening his arms to Darcy but not making a move to hug her. Instead, he made it clear she could step forward and get a hug if she wanted one, but he wouldn't push it. Apparently, most people who knew her seemed familiar with her aversion to touch, just not clear on when or if it would be broken. "I'm so sorry, girl. The aliens took a lot that day."
"It was Loki actually," corrected Darcy quietly, pulling her arms closer around her body and shaking her head at his silent offer. "Loki stabbed him during his escape."
Again, the struck look crossed Antoine's face. "Stabbed by...your dad- your dad was Agent Coulson? Seriously?"
Blushing a little, Darcy nodded, her gaze falling away to the outside dojo group. "Yeah, he was."
Antoine let out a whistle, following her gaze to the dojo group. "Geez, that's...he never seemed like the secret agent type. Guess it explains the martial arts mastery though."
"Yeah," confirmed Darcy, tilting her head towards the group. "Holding sessions outside now?"
"It was a nice day," explained Antoine with a shrug, tucking his hands into his pockets as something seemed to finally hit him. "Phil used to say the fresh air was good for us, remember?"
"Yeah, it was how he justified dragging me to amusement parks all the time," remarked Darcy, smiling a touch sadly. "He used to insist the best fresh air was found at the top of every roller coaster in whatever park we were in."
"Your dad was a real adrenaline junky, wasn't he?" remarked Antoine, shaking his head a little.
"He could be," agreed Darcy, her voice wavering a little even as she remained focused on the group. Except her eyes weren't focused at all; Clint could tell she was falling into her own head a little. "He liked speed, that was for sure."
Antoine chuckled slightly, a sad smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "I'm pretty sure some of it was him just trying to get you out of the house and somewhere with people."
"Probably," admitted Darcy quietly as her gaze wondered towards the sky. "He didn't necessarily push me, but he was always trying to convince me to go normal places and do normal things."
For a moment, Antoine stood quietly, staring at her like he couldn't figure out what to make of her. This man's look was actually unsettling for Clint; it was pretty clear he wanted to ask Darcy something but wasn't sure how to. And those types of questions were usually invasive and extremely personal. It made Clint want to step in and protect her, to make sure this guy didn't upset her inadvertently by saying something stupid.
"What's up, Antoine?" prompted Darcy, though her eyes never left the sky above. "I know you wanna ask me something."
Sighing, Antoine rubbed a hand faintly through his hair before apparently deciding just to dive into his question. "You didn't have a normal life when you were younger, did you?"
Clint felt his stomach twist at the question; invasive was right. There was nothing about that question that wasn't personal and potentially upsetting, especially in Darcy's case. He wanted to interrupt, to step in and draw the conversation away from this topic, but something was holding him back. Maybe it was the way Darcy seemed unphased by the question or maybe it was the way she was staring at the sky like it offered every answer she needed, but somehow interrupting felt wrong.
"Normal is relative," stated Darcy at last, lowering her gaze back to the students in the class. She stared at them a moment longer before turning her attention completely back onto Antoine. "Compared to most people's childhoods, mine wasn't normal by a long shot. Compared to the average SHIELD background, my childhood runs closer to the 'normal' line."
"That's really scary given there are more people with jacked up personal histories than I want to think about," countered Antoine, sighing when a student in the martial arts group suddenly fell over. "I should get back over there."
"Someone has to teach those kids how to kick right," agreed Darcy, shoving her hands into her pocket and nodding at Antoine. "Take care. Maybe I'll see you around SHIELD soon."
Nodding, Antoine turned towards the rest of the group, offering them all a wave. "It was good to meet you guys. Keep an eye on Darcy, trouble tends to find her."
"Speak for yourself Mister 'I swear we can get the car on the roof'," snorted Darcy slightly, shaking her head.
"You are never going to let me live that down, are you?" asked Antoine with an exaggerated sigh.
Darcy smirked a bit, shaking her head. "Dude, the car ended up in Principle Applency's office after it fell through the ceiling. I'm pretty damn sure that will never be a) not funny or b) something you'll live down."
"On second thought, maybe you should make her fend for herself," joked Antoine, glaring slightly at Darcy.
"You'd miss me too much," dismissed Darcy, making a shooing motion towards Antoine. "Now go help those kids before someone gets hurt."
Antoine opened his mouth like he was about to object, only to be cut off by a shout from the direction of the dojo group. Wincing a shooting his friend an apologetic look, he turned back towards the group, waving a bit at Darcy as he did. "See ya around, Darce. We are going to do something while you're in town."
"You got it," called back Darcy with a casual wave before she turned back towards the group with a shrug. She gave them a weird look almost immediately, raising an eyebrow at them like they had done something weird. "What's with the stares?"
Clint blinked and glanced around the group. The various looks of shock, surprise, and curiosity he found present on the others might have been amusing, if he weren't pretty sure his own face looked similar. The comment about the car kept going through his head; what had they been doing with a car on a roof?
"Car on the roof?" asked Tony, one of the genius' eyebrows rising. "What did Agent think about that one?"
Darcy shrugged a little, an attempt a looking innocent briefly flitting across her face. It didn't last though; the smirk that curled her lips was anything but innocent. "Not what he probably should have."
"Oh this I have to hear," stated Pepper, her interest clearly piqued. She dialed it back a second later, clearing her throat a little. "I mean, if you want to."
Smirking, Darcy motioned them towards a small snack stand in the middle of the park. "Let's get some food and I'll tell you what happened."
"Thor can get us food while you tell us what happened," stated Tony, half throwing his wallet at the blond god.
The billfold smacked Thor in the face and the god momentarily blinked at the leather object before he looked back at Tony. "What is it you wish ordered?"
"Whatever you want," stated Darcy with a shrug, heading for a table and dropping onto the metal picnic bench beside it. "Everything there's good."
"Come on Thor, I'll give you a hand," offered Jane, patting Thor on the arm and leading him towards the counter. Steve glanced between the groups for a moment before following after Jane and Thor. It was probably better that way; whatever had happened probably wouldn't sit well with the supersoldier.
As Steve, Jane, and Thor headed for the snack shack, Darcy motioned for the others to take seats. Clint dropped onto the bench directly beside Darcy, Tony plopping down on the other side of her and dragging Pepper into his lap as he did. The CEO looked a little miffed at the motion, but allowed it all the same. Natasha dropped beside Clint, dragging Bruce down beside her.
When everyone was seated Darcy, leaned forward towards them with a wicked grin. "So, I know most of you didn't have the typical high school experience, but you guys know what a senior prank is, right?" Everyone nodded slowly, their eyes glued to the young brunette woman. Her smirk widened. "Okay. So, if you haven't figured it out yet, Antoine and I went to high school together. And during our senior year…"
"You sure this is going to work?" asked Mary skeptically, glancing at an old dodge.
"It'll be fine," assured Antoine as he went around to the controls for the portable, hydraulic lift he'd 'borrowed' from his cousin's garage.
Darcy snorted. "I'm with Mary, this isn't gonna work."
Antoine rolled his eyes and glanced up at her. "If you're so skeptical, then why are you here?"
"Because I'm never gonna let you live this down when it fails," stated Darcy simply, folding her arms and leaning against a tree.
Antoine scoffed. "Then prepared to be floored by my genius."
Hitting a button, everyone watched the car begin to rise, shaking slightly and spinning in the air as the portable crane shuttered and extended. Several times, it looked like the crane might fall over, but the car somehow magically landed on the roof of the school. Or at least it did for all of two seconds. A heavy groaning sound echoed through the area momentarily before the car suddenly tilted back on the roof and disappeared from sight. The sound was followed by a loud crash that shook the ground and the sudden, sharp wail of sirens.
Antoine cursed as Darcy sighed and shot him an 'I told you so' look before dashing for the car, Mary dragging Antoine along behind her.
"So when you said a car went through the roof of the school, you meant literally," stated Pepper in something paramount to awe. "That's…"
"Horrible?" suggested Bruce mildly, the bench creaking as he shifted.
"Epic?" suggested Tony, one of his hands rising to rub at Pepper's shoulder soothingly.
"An absolutely terrible idea that we should have never attempted to execute," stated Darcy with a shrug, leaning a little more on the table. "We kinda figured that part out after the car was in the office."
"You admitted you thought it was a bad idea though," pointed out Natasha, her arms crossing on the table beside Clint.
"Well, yeah," confirmed Darcy with a snort. "I thought the crane was gonna fall over or they were gonna drop the car. I didn't think the car would even make it up onto the roof."
"Wow," muttered Clint, shaking his head a little. He could just imagine how pissed Coulson was when this happened. "So what did Coulson say when he found out?"
"Not what you'd think," admitted Darcy with a bit of a smile. "Dad always surprised me, and this time was no exception."
Stumbling into the kitchen, Darcy spotted the cup of coffee set aside for her and half dove for it. The hot liquid felt amazing sliding down her throat and it helped push back some of the exhaustion that came from only getting four hours of sleep. She didn't have to go to school today, but that didn't mean she didn't still get up at the same time she had every day for the last four years, either.
"A car on the roof?" asked Phil from across the kitchen. He was at the stove and his back was to her, the scent of pancakes filling the room. "Really Darcy?"
"Not my idea," stated Darcy as she finally came up for air, half her cup of coffee already gone. "Antoine was the one who thought it would be funny."
"You should have at least checked the maximum weight capacity of the roof," remarked Phil as he flipped off the stove and brought two plates of pancakes to the table. Setting one in front of Darcy, he placed the other across from her and slid into his seat.
"That's what I said, but none of us knew how to read blueprints or where to find them," explained Darcy with a shrug. "Honestly, I'm surprised the car even made it to the roof."
Phil hummed a bit, glancing at her momentarily before cutting into his food. "We're going to remedy that. I'm taking you on the field trip to town hall tomorrow to both show you where most blueprints in any given city are kept and I'm going to teach you how to read them."
Darcy paused midway in cutting her own pancakes up. "Wait, what?"
"I'm going to show you where to find blueprints and teach you how to read them," repeated Phil mildly, just before he took a bite of his food.
She stared at him for a long moment, shock and uncertainty warring as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. Finally, she put her silverware aside and folded her arms on the table. "Are you serious?"
"Completely," replied Phil, taking a sip of his coffee. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because I'm pretty sure teaching a kid how to break into a record hall and read blueprints isn't the normal reaction to finding out they helped accidentally drop a car into the principle's office," stated Darcy mildly, stabbing a bite of her own food.
Phil snorted. "I'm pretty sure grounding you won't drive home how massive of a screw up that was. At least if I teach you something from this, it won't happen again."
"Point," admitted Darcy with a laugh, refocusing on her food. "So when do we head out?"
"So, Phil taught you how to break into a building and read blueprints rather than ground you," stated Pepper slowly, almost looking floored at the idea.
"Yep," confirmed Darcy with a laugh, grinning at Steve, Jane, and Thor as they appeared with trays laden with food. "It was a good lesson, too. He was right, grounding me wouldn't have helped. At least now I won't make the same mistakes I did before."
"That's terrifying," muttered Bruce.
Beside Clint, Natasha began to chuckle. Clint couldn't help it; he joined her. What Darcy described was so Coulson, it was easy to imagine him standing in the kitchen as he made pancakes and telling his daughter that she was going to learn how to properly break into a building. The argument for teaching her over grounding her was completely valid. He could only imagine the chaos that would have come from that.
Several trays hit the table, nearly overflowing with food. Jane joined Pepper and Tony on the other side of the table, with Thor dropping into the seat beside her. Almost immediately, Darcy started distributing food and spreading it out, telling people to try different things and stating what of the food that had been ordered. Clint leaned back and allowed Darcy to hand various things to him, telling him to try them. And he did without question. He trusted her to give him good advice, he realized. Trusted her in a way he didn't trust anyone else there, save Natasha. It was a weird thought, but he tried not to let it bother him. Instead, he listened to the others laugh and exchange thoughts, Tony filling Thor, Jane, and Steve in on what they'd missed while they were getting food. Slowly, he found himself relaxing, and when the group got up to leave thirty minutes later, he felt more at peace than he had at any time in the past month.
